Barcelona's away form: The mystery that puzzles Catalonia

Barcelona players react to Valladolid scoring the first goal against them

In spite of having secured some vital results in their away matches, Barcelona have been slipping up of late. Its beyond any doubt that their style of play has drastically changed under new coach Tata Martino but the style of play is not alone to be blamed. After a lacklustre and shoddy performance against Real Valladolid this past weekend, the team have given ammunition to the critics to call them the ‘weakest’ but not the ‘worst’ Barcelona side ever. Here, we analyze some of the features responsible for their away game decline.

1. The squad rotation policy

Undoubtedly, the most major change visible to every critic and fan of FC Barcelona is the squad rotation policy followed by newly appointed manager Tata Martino. Lauded by many earlier in the season, the squad rotation policy is turning out to be a bane for the Catalans. The involvement of new players in the starting eleven in almost every match means that the team has not found the fluidity and chemistry between them as they did in the previous seasons. The most notable part about the Guardiola and Vilanova era was that the starting eleven used to be constant for most of the matches.

This helped in the fluidity of their game-play because every player knew where his colleague will exactly be. Ever since Martino has taken charge, he has rotated the squad in almost every match. He has given younger talents like Sergi Roberto, Marc Bartra and Cristian Tello many chances. Pundits lauded Martino for his daredevil move earlier in the season but now this is turning against him, as keeping fresh faces in the starting eleven is starting to take its toll on the team’s play and cause some dissent too, maybe.

2. The style of play

After a match or two under Martino’s charge, the most visible change in Barcelona’s game was the style of play. They have now taken a more direct approach in playing with their possession game. They look to feed the ball in the final third as soon as possible, something which is trademark Real Madrid. However, the players being acquainted to a slower build up and crisp passing, this new change has affected the team. The midfielders often squander possession and the wingers operate more defensively now.

Under Guardiola and Vilanova, the style of play could be very well predicted by the opposition but they made it a point that the squad varied and altered the style in almost every match. Under Martino, it’s obvious. The opponents know how to press, whom to press, whom to mark and how to counter the possession game. Martino has not varied his style, but has focused on the players rather.

3. Underestimating weaker opponents

It would be unfair to say that Barcelona have performed poorly in their away games this season. To be precise, they have done way more than expected when they have clashed with some giants in their away games, be it Atletico Madrid, AC Milan or Manchester City. Martino had got his tactics and starting eleven spot on. Although opinion polls stated that City will thrash Barca, the opposite happened, and that too in City’s widely dreaded backyard. Martino got that one right.

However, when it comes to opponents whom every cule expects that the team will cruise through, everything goes down in shambles. Against Athletic Bilbao, the team played like a schoolboy team. Against Ajax, the team spent the entire 90 minutes trying to realise that they were playing a Champions League fixture. Against Real Sociedad, the team lacked creativity, attitude and the desire to win. Against Valladolid, the team ran out of ideas as their style of play was very obvious to the Valladolid team.

Martino fielded a relatively less experienced and weaker starting eleven in all of these matches. We can attribute that to injuries or the coach’s decision, but doing so has not worked out at all. Martino seems to stress on his team and tactics only in matches against big teams while completely underestimating the opponents when playing weaker and more predictable sides, thus delivering a blow.

Andres Iniesta was missed badly by Barcelona against Real Valladolid

His biggest deficit against Valladolid turned out to be Andres Iniesta (who didn’t turn up due to personal reasons). The team struggled to find space and could not impose their passing game without Iniesta and even after deploying Messi in a deeper role, the Catalans didn’t achieve the result they wanted.

4. Unacceptable performances of some individual players

After having performed brilliantly against Manchester City, Dani Alves was a shadow of his original self in the recent league games. He has misplaced a lot of passes and crosses and has struggled to find space and get into an attacking position, which he is known to do with ease.

Gerard Pique seems to have lost his focus and looks like he is concentrating more on playing poker with his friends and giving interviews. His defending was shoddy against Valladolid and he certainly needs to get his act together if he expects to stop Aguero from tormenting Victor Valdes.

Busquets was probably the worst player against Valladolid. He misplaced a large number of passes, something which is unbecoming of a Barcelona player. His defending was not up to the mark and deploying him as a centre back in the later stages of the match didn’t help either.

Neymar was the most invisible player against Valladolid. After delivering a brilliant hat-trick against South Africa in the mid-week friendly, he failed to shine for his club, still probably reeling from the hangover of his hat-trick. He missed a glorious chance to equalize after he skyrocketed the ball from close range.

Although there is time to get back together before Barcelona face City and Real Madrid, the team has certain areas to work upon. After the departure of Puyol, a word class centre back is now a priority for the Catalans, with Mats Hummels and David Luiz being on top of the list. Leaving all that aside, my personal opinion states that it isn’t time for #TataOut just yet.